Connections, 5 Finger Retell and Character Traits

So far this year in Reading, we have been exploring different reading strategies that strengthen our overall comprehension and enjoyment.  One of our essential questions is: what does being an engaged reader look like?

One way to better relate to and appreciate what we read is by making connections.  Students learned about three different connections they can make: text to self (how what you are reading relates to your own life), text to text (what in this book reminds me of another book) and text to world (how does what you are reading relate to the rest of the world).  One book we read was "Fly Away Home" by Eve Bunting, about a boy and his father who are homeless and live in an airport.  Our class came up with some very impressive connections:

On a lighter note, we also made connections to "My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother" by Patricia Polacco.  It was amazing how many connections we could make to siblings that sometimes annoyed us!

Children then turned to their independent reading books to find connections.  They used their reading journals to record connections that they were making with their own books.

Another reading skill that we explored was the 5 Finger Retell/Story Map.  This is a great check-in for teachers (and parents) to make sure the child is understanding what they are reading.  Generally, they should be able to quickly tell you about:

• characters
• setting
• plot
• problem
• solution

Here is our quick story map about "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg:

We then turned to our independent reading and recorded this same information in our reading journals:

Finally, after studying setting, we began exploring character traits.  After reading a bit of a mentor text together, the students gathered internal and external character traits and made an anchor chart.  We will then build these into a list of character traits that we can apply to any book we read.

This helps us with Common Core Standard RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).